Christopher Black

324 Anza Street, San Francisco, CA 94118

telephone: 415.505.2618

 

DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

 

 

SUMMARY               13 years in Information Systems and Technology management. Track record of adapting to different cultures, corporate initiatives and technical challenges

 

PROFESSIONAL  EXPERIENCE

 

Marin Community Foundation                                                                                                2003 to present

Novato, California                                                                                                                                           

DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS, CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER                               

·  Directed Information Systems for Marin Community Foundation.  Responsible for the budgeting, development, planning and execution of all systems, applications and staff supporting $1B in assets and $80M annual grantmaking.

·  United nine separate application systems into one supersystem to manage rights and staff access to drastically decrease IS staff overhead in time.

·  Focused vertical accounting application, Foundation Power, to core competencies in grantmaking and accounting.

·  Reviewed, selected and contracted an Application Service Provider, Kintera, to attach to core accounting system.  Currently adding online grant applications, Customer Relationship Management and event management to MCF supersystem via web services with Kintera

·  Selected and installed electronic document management system to eliminate filing demands and make documents accessible to all staff with specific rights adjudicated depending on staff position

·  Tied core transaction processing system to financial reporting office to provide seamless processing of investment accounts and remove staff dependence on paper statement processing and subsequent lag time in processing accounts.

·  Designed, commissioned and installed an intranet process tracking system for monitoring complex tasks between departments

·  Contracted, implemented, tested and documented Disaster Recovery system

·  Created change management and help desk service level practices to eliminate development conflicts and enhance communication.

·  Produced and developed electronic stationary for MCF and four supporting legal entities permitting the production of grant transmittal and donation acknowledgement letters on demand.  This stationary subsystem observed rules and brand identity for all corporations while observing donor and grantee rules for notification and publication.

 

Butterfields, a division of eBay,                                                                                                  2000 to 2002

San Francisco, California                                                                                                                                

DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS                                                                                             

·  Directed Information Systems for Butterfields Auctioneers, a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay.  Responsible for all technical operations including Internet, application development and maintenance, network systems, telephony, special and remote event technical support. Reported to CEO of Butterfields and CIO of eBay. 

·  Supervised 15 staff.  Reorganized and hired replacement staff. Established best practices including disaster recovery.  Implemented standards for project specifications and performance with staff.

·  Directed application development to gain efficiencies in retail practices, including: barcode scanning for property management, receiving and shipping.  Integrated application system with eBay Internet channels.

 

Mattel Interactive (formerly The Learning Company and SoftKey International)                 1992 to 2000

DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY          (Novato, CA,  1999 to 2000)

Directed total staff of 60 in information systems and technology direct-to-consumer division.  Responsible for all development, systems, network, data and telephony for 700+ seat call center and Internet operations in multiple teams.

·  Managed 28 programmers and managers in development and QA of Internet e-Commerce and call center applications.  Managed inbound/outbound telemarketing customer information, tax calculations, promotions, warehouse operations, reporting and programming on Microsoft NT, Netware, PICK and Unix platforms.

·  Created and managed systems support staff of 12 with 1 manager and network support staff of 4 with 1 manager.  Initiated and managed partnerships with Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Compaq and telecom in designing, installing and managing new high-volume Internet host. 

·  Directed telephony support staff of five and one manager, supporting 700+ call center agents in inbound and outbound telemarketing operations.  Negotiated telecom contracts and managed vendor relations.

·  Designed and implemented Mattel's first Internet hosting facility.  Coordinated and managed development of Mattel's online store for Christmas 1999.  Internet host supported online presence of prominent brands such as Barbie, Mattel, Matchbox, Cabbage Patch, Hot Wheels, Fisher Price and others in environment that served over 700,000 unique visitors and 20,000,000 page views a week at 99.9% availability.

·  Supervised $3M data center build-out.  Responsibilities included planning, negotiation, OSHA compliance and coordination with existing data center functions during construction. 

   

DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL SUPPORT                         (Knoxville, TN/Cedar Rapids, IA,  1996 to 1999)

 

·  Directed Technical Support department in providing consumer support of over 800 retail software titles.  Supervised reorganization of fledgling department of 125 to reduce annualized costs by $650K.  Eliminated 68% of management.  Raised standards of performance in call abandonment from 22% to 6% within one month.  Maintained 3% abandonment for remainder of tenure.

·  Planned and directed migration of Technical Support operation from Knoxville, TN to Cedar Rapids, IA. In two years, grew department to 389 staff supporting 2000+ titles, with $6 million operating budget 75% offset by cross selling of titles to consumers.  Successfully Integrated support divisions from acquired companies.  Initiated Spanish-language Tech Support for fast-growing Latin American market.  Produced internal development of Intranet call tracking system and knowledge base.

 

MANAGER OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS                                                             (Fremont, CA,  1996)

 

·  Provided leadership to all Information Services within software development and marketing facility.  Managed staff of eight in telephony, network, systems and help desk management of 350 staff site.  Initiated and trained IS staff in support of Microsoft NT and SGI workstations for 150 multimedia developers.

 

WEBMASTER                                                                                                            (Cambridge, MA, 1995)

                                                         

·  Designed, programmed and managed SoftKey International's first Internet presence.  Managed design, programming and administration of SoftKey's first Internet presence. Functioned as site programmer, designer and administrator on various UNIX platforms.  Managed content coordination and site security.  Evaluated emerging technologies and provided technical consultation for executive staff in developing Internet platform.

 

NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR                                                                                    (Atlanta, GA, 1994)

                                 

TECHNICAL SUPPORT SUPERVISOR                                                              (Atlanta, GA,  1992-1993)